Fireplaces have long been used as a source of heat in human dwellings. Fireplaces were widespread in Western Europe, from where the fashion for them came to Russia in the 18th century. But the fireplace is not only a source of heat in the house, but also an elegant element of decorative decoration of the premises, giving them a special comfort, luxury and relaxation. The charm of live fire, which you never get tired of looking at, creates an incomparable microclimate in the room. Thanks to these properties of fireplaces, decorative fireplaces are becoming more and more common in urban apartments with central heating, which are not the main source of heat, but serve as an element of room decor.
Such fireplaces can be purchased ready-made. They are presented in a wide variety in the modern trading network. Moreover, you can buy a purely interior fireplace, which serves only to decorate the room, a fireplace with imitation of fire and a fireplace with a partial heating function, for example, based onelectric heater.
DIY decorative fireplaces
The prices of fireplaces on the market are in a very wide range of values - from several thousand to several hundred thousand rubles. Moreover, the lion's share of the cost of such products falls on their finishing. Therefore, for many, the question of how to make a decorative fireplace with your own hands in your city apartment is relevant.
As practice shows, this task is by no means as difficult as it might seem at first glance. After all, we are talking about an element of decor, and not the erection of a fully functional building for heating a room that requires fire safety conditions, a chimney, etc. In this article we will look at how to make a decorative fireplace with our own hands. The step-by-step instructions given in the article will help you in the shortest possible time, without wasting your precious time on unnecessary actions, to complete this work and realize your ideas for improving the interior of your apartment.
Project selection
There are two problems to solve at this step. The first (depending on the purpose of installing the fireplace) is what materials to use in the manufacture. The second is where to place the fireplace and how to fit it into the interior of the room. About the materials. If the fireplace is purely decorative, then in its manufacture you can use any materials that are available to you - from foam, wood and polystyrene to metal, ceramics and natural stone. If you plan to install heating appliances in the fireplace, then the materials for making the fireplace must be non-combustible - brick, metal, stone, and forfinishing, you can use ceramic tiles, tiles, natural stone, marble, metal. As an example, consider how to make a decorative fireplace in your apartment with your own hands. Let's take an interior type fireplace.
Where to place the fireplace?
It can be placed anywhere in your home or kitchen. The main task of such a fireplace is to decorate the interior, make the home more attractive and comfortable, and improve a place to relax. Therefore, it must be positioned accordingly. You can make a corner decorative fireplace with your own hands. In many cases, this is appropriate, as this option takes up less space in the room. But many people prefer to make a fireplace in the wall or near it. This allows you to have a more spacious seating area, in which the fireplace usually takes center stage. The next step is to build drawings of the fireplace, and preferably a miniature copy of it in order to imagine to yourself and your other household how it will be look in the interior of your home. This will help you better understand the dimensions of the fireplace and fit it into the existing or planned interior of the apartment. But it is worth remembering that since you decide to make a decorative fireplace with your own hands, then the choice of its manufacturing option (as well as finishing) is entirely up to you. First of all, you should start from your desires, ideas about beauty and convenience, from the availability of available interior details, so that the fireplace is in harmony with them. Not the last role is played by the amount of funds thatyou can and are willing to spend on decorating the fireplace.
Carton fireplace
Perhaps the most economical option on how to build a decorative fireplace with your own hands is presented in several pictures above. Imitation of a fireplace is a construction of two square-section racks made of ordinary, but rather durable cardboard, a base and a mantelpiece made of solid wood or plywood. You choose the dimensions of the fireplace and its details yourself, based on your preferences and harmonious combination with other details of your interior. Racks are glued and painted to look like brickwork. You can paste over the racks with wallpaper with a brickwork pattern. The racks are fastened to the base and the mantelpiece with glue and metal corner elements using self-tapping screws in such a place that these fasteners are not visible in the finished product. The finished product is also attached to the wall with screws and corners. Inside the decorative fireplace, black paper with the image of fire is glued. Several logs of firewood are laid out on the podium in front of the fire pattern. The decorative fireplace is ready!
Gypsum board fireplace
Another way is to use drywall. It is also easy to use, but allows you to build a product of almost any shape and with a variety of finishes. At the same time, in comparison with those already considered, a much more durable do-it-yourself decorative fireplace is obtained. Step by step instructions includeyourself the following steps:
1. Frame assembly.
2. Plasterboard sheathing.
3. Finishing.
Installing the frame
The frame of the product is made from wooden blocks or, more practical, from special profiles - PN guides or rack-mount PS, designed to work with drywall. Profiles are cut to size in accordance with the developed sketch of the fireplace. First, vertical PS profiles are attached to the wall at the fireplace installation site, connected at the top and bottom by PN profiles using self-tapping screws. Then, at the junctions of the profiles (perpendicular to the wall), segments of the PN profile are attached according to the depth of the fireplace. A prefabricated frame of profiles is attached to the ends of the latter, similar to the one that is already attached to the wall. It turned out the skeleton of the future fireplace. At the bottom, the frame of the base of the fireplace is made in the same way, and inside - internal partitions that model the external opening of the fireplace insert with a configuration in accordance with your plan. The lines of this hole can be not only straight, but also curved (for example, its upper side). This is acceptable as the drywall sheet will bend when installed if lightly wetted before being attached to the frame.
Cautions
When making the frame, carefully follow the exact correspondence of the horizontal and vertical lines in terms of level. It is also necessary to control the exact correspondence of the dimensions of the structure, since the final appearance of the product depends on this. In the manufacture of the frame, its dimensions must be selected taking into account the thickness of the drywall sheets andfinishing materials that will be used in the next stages of work. It is possible to qualitatively make a decorative fireplace with your own hands only if the work is done accurately at the first stage.
Gypsum board sheathing
Since you firmly decided to make a decorative fireplace with your own hands, the second step is to cut the drywall sheet to the size of the frame parts. At the same time, the parts that cover the side and inner parts of the frame are first cut, and they are fixed with self-tapping screws to the frame. Sheet cutting is performed on a metal ruler with a sharp wallpaper knife. Then, the parts covering the front of the fireplace are cut, taking into account the already mounted side and internal trim parts. These parts are also fastened with screws to the frame. If the design of the fireplace is simple and it is not supposed to use heavy materials for finishing, then they are sheathed in one layer of drywall. Otherwise, a two-layer sheathing is used. Cutting out the details of the second layer is carried out after the implementation of the first layer, taking into account its thickness.
It is better to make the base of the fireplace from a more durable material (bricks, stone, etc.) in order to avoid possible damage. Sheathing details are carefully primed, dried and plastered. It is usually necessary to repeat these operations to achieve the ideal surface finish. After that, the surface of the product is polished with sandpaper.
Separately produce a mantel of the required configuration. To do this, use an array of wood, chipboard, readycountertop made of wood or other material. The surface of the shelf is also prepared for finishing in accordance with the material from which it is made.
Finish
As noted above, the decoration of a decorative fireplace can be done in thousands of different ways, it all depends on your capabilities, desires and preferences. Simple, not very expensive and advantageous in appearance, is the option of finishing with polyurethane parts, which are currently available in a wide variety on the market. This material is durable, easy to install, looks great in the finished product. You can clad the fireplace with ceramic tiles, natural stone tiles, etc.
In any case, the material of the outer cladding (and what to fasten) is selected in accordance with your plan. Thus, in the article it is described step by step how to make decorative fireplaces with your own hands.
